A denture gone missing!

Excerpt

A 46-year-old gentleman presented to the emergency department with a history of ingestion of a denture 3 h prior. General examination and local examination of the throat were unremarkable. On endoscopy there was pooling of saliva in both the pyriform fossae. In view of this, an X-ray soft tissue neck lateral view was taken, which revealed a curvilinear radiopaque foreign body [Fig. 1]. This radiological appearance maybe quite misleading for the novice surgeon as the bulk of the denture is radiolucent and may not be visualized on a plain roentgenogram, and hence, the actual size of the foreign body may be grossly underestimated. A rigid esophagoscopy was done under general anesthesia, and the denture was removed. Postoperatively, the patient was asymptomatic and resumed oral feeds within 24 h. Wearing dentures is a significant risk factor in foreign body ingestion since they eliminate the tactile sensitivity of the palate. They pose a significant risk of esophageal perforation per se, as well as during removal due to the presence of wires at their ends [1]. Most dentures can be removed endoscopically either intact, or by breaking down the denture into small pieces using denture cutting forceps, however impacted dentures may require surgical esophagotomy [1, 2].

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